Evergreen Cemetery is a privately-owned rural cemetery

Rural cemetery

The rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of burial ground that uses landscaping in a park-like setting.As early as 1711 the architect Sir Christopher Wren had advocated the creation of burial grounds on the outskirts of town, "inclosed with a strong Brick Wall, and having a walk round, and...

 near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Gettysburg is a borough that is the county seat, part of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and the eponym for the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The town hosts visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park and has 3 institutions of higher learning: Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg College, and...

, with 5 notable interments: John L. Burns

John L. Burns

John Lawrence Burns , veteran of the War of 1812, became a 70-year-old civilian combatant with the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War...

 (1812 & 1863 soldier), Steve Courson

Steve Courson

Stephen Paul "Steve" Courson was an American football guard for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers.- Early years :...

 (NFL lineman), Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...

 (poet), Eddie Plank

Eddie Plank

Edward Stewart Plank , nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie", was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He is the first left-handed pitcher to win 200 games and then 300 games, and now ranks third in all-time wins among left-handers with 326 career victories and first all-time in career shutouts by a...

 (Hall of Fame pitcher), and Oscar Shaw

Oscar Shaw

Oscar Shaw , was a stage and screen actor and singer...

 (actor/singer). After the cemetery was the site of the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 headquarters during the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

's Pickett's Charge

Pickett's Charge

Pickett's Charge was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander,...

, by July 7, 1863, Evergreen Cemetery had became the eponym

Eponym

An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...

 for Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill

Cemetery Hill is a Gettysburg Battlefield landform which had 1863 military engagements each day of the July 1–3 Battle of Gettysburg. The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive "fish-hook" line, the hill is gently sloped and provided a site for American Civil War artillery...

 (formerly Raffensberger's Hill).http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Cemetery+Hill%22+Gettysburg&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=newspapers#q=%22Cemetery+Hill%22+Gettysburg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_0_NTt3lJKzCsQLu84n3Dg&ved=0CBgQpwUoCw&source=lnt&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A1863&tbm=nws&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=62de2d13d57f33b7&biw=1600&bih=737

History

Incorporated March 3, 1854, as the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Gettysburg, land south of the Gettysburg borough line was procured for the cemetery by local residents headed by attorney David McConaughy

David McConaughy

David McConaughy was a noted attorney, cemetery president, and civic leader in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as well as a part-time intelligence officer for the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Gettysburg National Cemetery following the Battle...

. The association managed the property and oversaw selection of its caretakers (the gatehouse was the caretaker residence.)

During the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

, the cemetery was damaged by incoming artillery shells, and some of the XI Corps (Union Army) batteries and infantry used the grave monuments as protection. Following the battle, the Soldiers' National Cemetery

Gettysburg National Cemetery

The Gettysburg National Cemetery is located on Cemetery Hill in the Gettysburg Battlefield near the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery to the south...

 was established on the summit adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery. The speaker's platform that was used by President Abraham Lincoln to deliver his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery was located on the grounds of the Evergreen Cemetery.

From 1893-1916, the Gettysburg Electric Railway

Gettysburg Electric Railway

The Gettysburg Electric Railway was a borough trolley that provided summer access to Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attractions such as military engagement areas, monuments, postbellum camps, and recreation areas...

 operated along the east and south of the cemetery. Evergreen Cemetery continued to grow in size throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, expanding south beyond the trolley railway which was razed in 1917.